Lumos Foundation
Lumos
Lumos is an international charity fighting to end the institutionalisation of children and ensuring every child grows up in a safe, loving family.
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Jutta Urpilainen (Commissioner) and Save the Children Europe and
27 Jun 2022 · Consolations with Youth Organisation on the Youth Action Plan
Response to European Year of Youth (2022)
13 Dec 2021
Lumos is fighting for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world. We are an international charity striving for a future where every child is raised in a safe, loving home, supported by family to help them thrive.
Lumos welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to make 2022 the European Year of Youth. Stemming from Lumos’ extensive experience working with marginalised children and youth (such as children and youth in institutions, care leavers, children at risk of family separation, children in poverty and children with disabilities), the below recommendations aim to ensure that the European Year of Youth will be inclusive and deliver for all youth.
Recommendation 1: Ensure that the European Year of Youth also includes youth in institutions and care leavers
Recommendation 2: Pay special attention to inclusive education
Recommendation 3: Raise awareness about ethical volunteering, and the harms of volunteering in orphanages
Recommendation 4: Ensure that the European Year of Youth addresses the challenges and needs of youth in EU partner countries
For our full recommendations please read the attached paper.
Read full responseMeeting with Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen) and SOS Children's Villages and
3 Dec 2021 · Discussion on Youth Action Plan
Response to Combating child sexual abuse
26 Oct 2021
Child sexual abuse is a serious violation of the fundamental rights of children, which can cause long term physical, psychological and social harm to the victim.
In order to adequately address all forms of sexual abuse in different settings, and ensure effective prevention initiatives, protection and support to victims are in place, Lumos is of the opinion that a new legislative framework, building on the existing Directive 2011/93/EU, will best be suited to tackle remaining challenges. This framework could potentially be complemented with non-legislative measures.
Research suggests that children that live in residential institutions, including orphanages, residential special schools and reception centres that accommodate unaccompanied children on the move, are at high risk of sexual abuse. It is therefore of utmost importance that the Directive recognises the risks for this vulnerable group of children, and proposes actions to mitigate these risks. In this respect, the development of family- and community-based care is essential to ensure that children are protected, and their rights are upheld.
When children grow up in institutional settings lacking the consistency of an individual care giver, they are at increased risk of exploitation. Abuse can be committed by staff, volunteers, people from outside the institution or other residents. Orphanage volunteering increases the risk of child sexual abuse for children living in residential institutions, and can drive orphanage trafficking. Many institutions are set up simply to receive donations, in some cases through volunteers, rather than to help children who do not have families. Traffickers may actively recruit children to fill ‘orphanages’. Volunteering can thus inadvertently lead to the trafficking of children into orphanages. Trafficking of children into institutions for financial gain is not the only link between institutions and trafficking. Children living in institutions are highly vulnerable to being trafficked, and there is ample case evidence of children being trafficked out of state-run and private institutions for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Given the above-described linkages between children’s institutions and child sexual abuse, it is pertinent that a new legislative framework is established, which caters for these specific vulnerabilities. In this regard, Lumos recommends that a new legislation:
1. Explicitly recognises that children in institutional care and those who are not in a safe family or family-based environment are at increased risk of sexual abuse and calls on the EU Member States to support the transition from institutional to family and community-based care.
2. Specifically includes offences committed against a child living in institutional care as an aggravating circumstance (Article 9), as children in institutional care are exceptionally vulnerable, and any misuse made of this vulnerability should be punished.
3. Calls on member states to discourage their citizens to undertake any volunteering activities in orphanages, given the demonstrated harms of orphanage volunteering and the heightened risk of sexual abuse.
4. Ensures that any natural person who has been convicted of any of the offences referred to in Articles 3 to 7 of Directive 2011/93/EU will be permanently prevented from exercising professional and volunteering activities involving direct contact with children, such as work in residential institutions.
For more information, please read our full paper 'Lumos' Recommendations for a new legislative framework to fight child sexual abuse'.
Read full responseResponse to Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings - review of EU rules
10 Sept 2021
Lumos is an international children’s charity fighting for every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world.
An estimated 5.4 million children are trapped in institutions globally including so called orphanages. Research has shown that these institutions can harm a child’s growth and development. Evidence also points to institutional care as both a driver and outcome of trafficking, playing what appears to be a significant role in many instances of child exploitation and abuse.
There is growing evidence of links between institutionalisation of children and child trafficking -
‘institution-related trafficking’. The following linkages have been identified:
1) Children are recruited and trafficked into institutions for the purpose of financial profit and other forms of exploitation – also known as ‘orphanage trafficking’;
2) Children are trafficked from orphanages/institutions into other forms of exploitation including sexual abuse, forced labour and forced criminality;
3) Child trafficking victims and unaccompanied children are placed in institutions for ‘protection’, which can put them at risk of trafficking and re-trafficking;
4) Care-leavers are more vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.
Based on evidence assessed for Lumos’ Cracks in the System Report , all forms of institution-related trafficking are evident in Europe with the last three forms being particularly prevalent. Nevertheless, at present there is no legislation in Europe that refers to the trafficking of children into and out of institutional care specifically.
The EU has recognised the harms of institutionalisation and taken various steps to transition from institutional to family- and community-based care. Whilst welcoming these developments, it is now time for the EU to recognise that child trafficking presents an additional ‘harm’ faced by children living in institutions, which is a reality that needs to be urgently addressed. In this regard, Lumos calls on the EU to expand the scope of the anti-trafficking directive to also cover institution-related trafficking.
Lumos welcomes the Commission’s initiative to revise the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive and to address possible gaps and shortcomings of the current legislative framework. The objective of the below amendments to the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive, is to address a serious lacuna in the current legislative framework on trafficking in human beings. Presently, perpetrators involved in the chain of trafficking of a child into, within and out of an institution can continue their criminality with limited fear of any interference, criminal investigation or prosecution. In order to enhance awareness on this issue and offer more protection to the victims of institution-related trafficking we suggest to:
(i) Broaden the definition of trafficking so as to cover institution-related trafficking;
(ii) Strengthen the capacity of the different bodies which come in contact with victims of trafficking such as child welfare officials with the aim to ensure that child victims of trafficking are not placed (back) into institutions as a protection measure.
(iii) Improve collaboration and information-sharing between child protection actors, law enforcement and the courts for children deprived of parental care;
(iv) Reinforce data collection mechanisms to ensure that institution-related trafficking is recorded and included in national referral mechanisms.
(v) Enhance accountability by implementing systems that monitor and regulate funding that flows into orphanages.
(vi) Raise awareness about institution-related trafficking and ban the practise of unskilled volunteering in children’s institutions.
For more information, please see our full paper ‘Lumos’ recommendations on the initiative: ‘Preventing and combating trafficking in human beings- review of EU rules’’.
Read full response27 May 2021
Lumos is an international charity, founded by the author J.K. Rowling, striving for a future where every child is raised in a safe, loving home, supported by family to help them thrive.
Whereas deinstitutionalisation has been a priority for the EU in its internal funding and policies for years, through NDICI, the transition from institutional to community-based care for children has now been extended to the external funds. This presents a great opportunity for the EU to promote children’s right to grow up in a family and in the community worldwide, strengthen child protection systems and ensure access to inclusive community-based services. This is particularly important in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
This paper looks at the different geographic sub-regions referred to in the draft Delegated Act to the NDICI and outlines the specific objectives and priority areas which should be included in those sub-regions which face human rights challenges related to the institutionalisation of children. These additions will ensure that NDICI promotes the transition from institutional to community-based care for children and adequately responds to the challenges of the respective regions.
Neighbourhood East
➔ Development of and enhancing access to inclusive education (objective 1d)
➔ Promotion of social inclusion, including through developing integrated networks of community-based services, to prevent child abandonment and ensure children receive care within families and communities (new objective under point 5)
➔ Language on the fight against human trafficking. Noting that human trafficking is a global issue, and also an issue in the Neighbourhood East, we propose to have the current text on the fight against human trafficking included here too. It is also important to recognise the links between institutions and child trafficking including the phenomenon of orphanage trafficking - whereby children are trafficked into institutions for the purpose of profit.
East and Central Africa
➔ Social protection services should include the reform of child protection systems targeting the development of family-based care for children and integrated networks of community-based services, as well as transitioning children living in institutions to family- and community-based care (objective 4a).
➔ Development of and enhancing access to inclusive education (objective 4b).
➔ Social inclusion should include prevention of child-family separation and institutionalisation (objective 4c).
➔ Protecting unaccompanied minors by limiting the time they spend in reception centres and moving them to family- and community-based care (objective 5d).
The Caribbean
➔ Family support services to increase families’ resilience during disasters and increase the capacity of family- and community-based care (new sub-objective under objective 1).
➔ In addition to fighting human trafficking, it would be important to recognise the links between institutions and child trafficking including the phenomenon of orphanage trafficking (objective 4b).
➔ Protection frameworks should include targeted support services for vulnerable children and their families, as well as family- and community-based care options for children deprived of parental care. Inclusive education should also feature for this region (objective 4c).
The Americas
➔ Develop support services for vulnerable families aimed at preventing family separation and child maltreatment (new sub-objective under objective 5)
➔ Improve access to support services for children with disabilities and their families (objective 5b)
Please find more information on these recommendations in our full paper, based on the case studies of Moldova, Ukraine, Kenya, Ethiopia, Haiti and Colombia. In our paper you can also find more background information on the deinstitutionalisation of children.
Read full responseMeeting with Iris Abraham (Cabinet of Vice-President Dubravka Šuica) and Hope and Homes for Children
5 May 2021 · The Strategy on the Rights of the Child
Meeting with Eva Gerhards (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli), Silvan Agius (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli) and
22 Mar 2021 · Exchange of Views on the Transition from institutional to Community-based Care.
Meeting with Kasia Jurczak (Cabinet of Commissioner Janez Lenarčič) and Hope and Homes for Children
1 Feb 2021 · Childrens' rights / support.
Response to Preventing and combatting gender-based violence
13 Jan 2021
Gender-based and domestic violence are serious crimes that can cause long term physical, psychological and social harm to the victim. Lumos therefore welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to address the issue of gender-based and domestic violence and to protect victims and punish offenders.
In order to have a proposal for a Directive which is as effective as possible, it should address all forms of gender-based and domestic violence in different settings and promote the different ways in which violence and abuse can be prevented. Domestic violence includes violence that occurs within a domestic unit, and therefore also within residential institutions for children. Research suggests that children, especially girls, that live in residential institutions, including orphanages, residential special schools and reception centres that accommodate unaccompanied children on the move, are at high risk of sexual abuse and other forms of gender-based and domestic violence. It is therefore of utmost important that the Directive recognises the risks for this vulnerable group of children, and proposes actions to mitigate these risks.
Lumos recommends that the proposal for a Directive on combating gender-based and domestic violence:
1. Explicitly recognises that children in institutions and those who are not in a safe and loving family or family-based environment are at increased risk of violence such as sexual abuse. The Directive should therefore call on EU Member States to support the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care and avoid institutions as a response to domestic abuse in family environments.
2. Encourages Member States to make sure that any commercial act of buying, selling or exchanging control over a child in order to transfer or place that child in an orphanage or other residential children’s institution is a criminal offence to commit, in order to prevent child trafficking into orphanages.
3. Focuses on preventive evidence-based interventions for the protection of children against gender-based and domestic violence, including the prevention of family separation, to ensure that children are protected by a safe and caring family environment.
4. Calls on Member States to invest in targeted services supporting young people leaving the care system, as they are often at high risk of being sexually abused or exploited.
5. Calls on Member States to ensure unaccompanied migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children have equal access to the mainstream child protection system, so they are better protected against all forms of violence including gender-based and domestic violence.
6. Calls on the Member States to ensure that EU funds that are directed towards separated and unaccompanied migrant and refugee children are only spent on the provision of family- and community-based care as well as on quality guardianship and not for their institutionalisation (including the construction and maintenance of institutional settings).
7. Acknowledges the harm of volunteering in orphanages and other forms of institutional care and urges Member States not to facilitate any volunteering activities in such care facilities that are harmful for children.
8. Includes the views and opinions of children and young people in the preparation and implementation of the proposed Directive, including of those living in institutional care facilities or care leavers.
Please read our full paper for more information.
Read full responseResponse to EU humanitarian action: new challenges, same principles
17 Dec 2020
During natural disasters, conflict and other crises, many children end up being separated from their families. In response, humanitarian aid efforts often focus on providing immediate shelter, and for children this may be in the form of institutional care, including shelters or orphanages. When insufficient efforts are made to reunite children with their family or place them in a family-based alternative, they may remain institutionalised long after the crisis, with the continuing negative effects of institutionalisation impacting them. While the construction of an orphanage is a common and often well-intended response to natural disaster, research has demonstrated that it is not the best approach to protect children and their rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic, and the accompanying measures put in place to control it, have exacerbated the vulnerability of children and families who were already in precarious situations: pushing more people into extreme poverty. The situation is particularly bad in regions that were already impacted by humanitarian crises before the breakout of the pandemic. Lumos therefore welcomes the European Commission’s intention to review the EU’s humanitarian action in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. By incorporating more long-term focused approaches and thinking around impact, humanitarian aid can play an important role in making sure that children grow up in safe and nurturing families.
Lumos recommends the European Commission to:
1. Make sure that EU humanitarian aid is not directed towards the maintenance, renovation or construction of new institutions for children, and prioritise family- and community-based care and services in humanitarian aid programmes.
2. Forge links with other major humanitarian aid donors, to plan, coordinate and implement child protection support in emergencies.
3. Ensure equal access to quality alternative care for unaccompanied migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children as for all other children already in the country, with a focus on promoting family reunification and providing family- and community-based solutions.
4. Acknowledge the harm of volunteering in orphanages and other forms of institutional care, and make sure that its humanitarian aid activities do not facilitate volunteering in orphanages. For example, the European Solidarity Corps 2021-2027 should specifically outlaw any volunteering activities in orphanages.
For more details and background please see our paper 'Lumos' Recommendations for policy priorities in EU humanitarian action'.
Read full responseResponse to Union of Equality: European Disability Rights Strategy
12 Nov 2020
Persons with disabilities still face obstacles to their inclusion and participation in society on an equal basis with others and are more exposed to violence. Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable to social exclusion, neglect and violence, and are at greater risk of being institutionalised, due to a lack of support services available to the family, and a lack of inclusive education in the community. With the right services in place, family separation can be prevented and many of these children could grow up in birth, extended or foster families: as part of the community.
Lumos and Hope and Homes for Children therefore welcome the upcoming Disability Rights Strategy for 2021-30, and see a renewed strategy as an opportunity to build on the lessons learned from the Disability Rights Strategy 2010-20, foster deinstitutionalisation for children with disabilities and promote inclusive education globally.
In order for the European Disability Rights Strategy 2021-30 to adequately contribute to the goal of reaching full inclusion of persons with disabilities, it is absolutely necessary that children do not grow up segregated in institutions, but in the community in loving and caring families. Following the EU’s acknowledgement of the harm caused by institutionalisation and its commitment to support the shift from institutional to family- and community-based care, Lumos and Hope and Homes for Children propose the following recommendations for the European Disability Rights Strategy 2021-2030:
• Renew the commitment to the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care and extend this commitment to the EU’s external action.
• Specifically recognise the institutionalisation of children as a harmful practice, and highlight the specific risks for children with disabilities.
• Ensure the views and opinions of children and young people with disabilities, including those living in institutions or who have lived in institutions (care leavers) are included in the design, the implementation and evaluation of the Disability Strategy 2021-30.
• Encourage Member States to develop, and ensure access to, specialised services for children with disabilities and their families, including foster care families, based on their needs, in addition to mainstream services.
• Encourage the use of EU funds to support the transition from institutional to family and community based care and the prevention of separation of children from their families, namely the European Social Fund Plus, the European Regional Development Fund, the Instrument for Pre-Accession III and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.
• Encourage Member States to design and implement targeted measures to fight discrimination and stigma in the society, in particular in education and early childhood education and care.
• Call on Member States to ensure all children regardless of disability have access to the same standards of care through legislation and practice.
• Have a robust implementation and monitoring framework. In order for the new Disability Rights Strategy to be more effective, to make sure that policy is translated into practice, and that progress is measured, robust implementation and monitoring mechanisms are key. Measures fostering deinstitutionalisation for children with disabilities need to be planned out and committed to in the Strategy, and their implementation and progress needs to be monitored.
• Address the need for children living in institutions and otherwise outside households to be represented in disaggregated data.
Please read the attached joint recommendations for more details.
Read full responseResponse to European Child Guarantee
6 Oct 2020
In the EU, 1 out of 4 children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. When children do not have access to adequate resources, services and support, they start their life at a significant disadvantage and are at risk of ending up in a cycle of poverty and of being left behind.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic and its socio-economic consequences are having a dramatic impact on vulnerable children as well as on their families and communities. Responses to the pandemic are compounding structural weaknesses in child protection and welfare systems and testing the capacity of vulnerable families to care for their children. Ultimately the number of children at risk of separation from their families, in need of additional support, or in alternative care is likely to increase.
Lumos and Hope and Homes for Children are therefore in support of the European Commission’s intention to adopt a European Child Guarantee in 2021, which should help ensure that every child at risk of poverty or social exclusion has access to the “most basic of rights like health care and education”. In doing so, a European Child Guarantee is indispensable to implement the European Pillar of Social Rights (in particular Principle 11), the upcoming comprehensive EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Following the EU’s acknowledgement of the harm caused by institutionalisation and its commitment to supporting the shift from institutional to family- and community-based care, as well as the support expressed by the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen to break the cycle of child poverty and social exclusion, Hope and Homes for Children and Lumos propose the following recommendations for Council Recommendation on the European Child Guarantee:
- Encourage Member States to identify children in institutional care or at risk of family separation as a priority target group for their Child Guarantee National Action Plans.
- Request Member States to identify measures and actions for children in institutions and, where applicable, their families, based on a thorough needs analysis of the children concerned and an assessment of the available services in the country
- Support Member States in the development of long-term strategies to support the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care, ensuring they include measures to prevent institutionalisation and family separation.
- Set minimum targets for the EU in universal access to services.
- Encourage Member States to collect data on vulnerable children.
- Encourage Member States to develop their Child Guarantee National Action Plans in coordination with other broader national/regional strategies that cover and impact the transition from institutions to community-based care.
- Encourage Member States to allocate a sufficient budget to match the ambitious goals of the Child Guarantee National Action Plans.
- Ensure the Council Recommendation on the European Child Guarantee has a clear implementation plan which can be monitored.
- Ensure that the views and opinions of children and young people, including those living in institutions or who have lived in institutions (care leavers) are included in the design of the European Child Guarantee and the National Action Plans.
- Ensure that each Member State nominates a contact point in the relevant line to coordinate the planning, implementation and monitoring of the European Child Guarantee.
Please read the attach joint Recommendations for more details.
Read full responseMeeting with Adela Kabrtova (Cabinet of Commissioner Janez Lenarčič) and Hope and Homes for Children
20 Aug 2020 · Protection of children
Meeting with Katri Teedumäe (Cabinet of Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi), Maja Kocijancic (Cabinet of Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi) and
13 Jul 2020 · Child care reform in Covid 19 crisis and in next MFF
Response to EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse
3 Jul 2020
Evidence-based research demonstrates that children that are not protected by a family or family-based environment, such as children living in residential institutions, including so-called “orphanages”, residential special schools and reception centers that accommodate unaccompanied children on the move, are particularly vulnerable and at high risk of sexual abuse.
Lumos therefore recommends that the EU Strategy to fight child sexual abuse:
1. Explicitly recognises that children in institutional care and those who are not in a safe family or family-based environment are at increased risk of sexual abuse and calls on the Member States (MS) to support the transition from institutional to family and community-based care. Lumos welcomes that the EU aims to support MS to provide adequate assistance to victims, but abuse in residential settings often goes unnoticed. It is important that abuse in institutions including orphanages, special residential schools and migrant reception centers is specifically addressed in the Strategy and the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care for children is recommended as a response.
2. Focuses on preventive measures for the protection of children against sexual abuse, including the prevention of family separation and institutionalisation, to ensure that children are protected by a safe and caring family environment. Poverty, disability and discrimination are some of the major factors which place children at risk of family separation and institutionalisation. It is essential to pre-emptively scale up the capacity of quality family-based care and social protection systems to enhance family resilience. Targeted services supporting young people leaving the care system should be developed, as this group is at high risk of being abused or exploited.
3. Calls on MS to ensure unaccompanied migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking children have equal access to the mainstream child protection system, so they are better protected against sexual abuse. As the EU intends to support MS to prevent the sexual abuse of any child, unaccompanied migrant and refugee children should be included in the Strategy. They should be protected in the same way as national children, with a view to refrain from institutionalising children on the move and provide them with the necessary care and access to basic services, including physiological support.
4. Calls on the MS to ensure that EU funds that are directed towards separated and unaccompanied migrant and refugee children are only spent on the provision of family- and community-based care as well as on quality guardianship and not for their institutionalisation (including the construction and maintenance of institutional settings). Funds should be used to support awareness raising campaigns on institution-related trafficking and the increased risk of sexual abuse in institutional care.
5. Acknowledges the harm of volunteering in orphanages and other forms of institutional care and recommends that it should be explicitly outlawed by the European Solidarity Corps 2021-2027. Its wording should also reflect the link to the risk of child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking and raise awareness amongst prospective volunteers in particular. The wider harms of institutions for children and the need for volunteering in initiatives that prevent family separation and strengthen communities should be highlighted.
6. Includes the views and opinions of children and young people in the preparation and implementation of the Strategy. We suggest producing more child-friendly and inclusive material and to create accessible tools and platforms that would enable the full participation of children and young people in the implementation of the Strategy. Finally, we recommend cooperating with civil society, who could play a facilitating role in reaching different groups of children and young people that have experienced sexual abuse or are at risk to get abused.
Read full responseMeeting with Catherine Sustek (Cabinet of Vice-President Margaritis Schinas) and Hope and Homes for Children
13 May 2020 · Children in migration
Meeting with Santina Bertulessi (Cabinet of Commissioner Nicolas Schmit) and Hope and Homes for Children
23 Apr 2020 · Child guarantee
Response to EU Action Plan of Gender equality and women’s empowerment in external relations for 2021-2025
2 Apr 2020
Lumos is an international NGO founded by author J.K. Rowling, working to end the institutionalisation of children worldwide by 2050. Please find more information about our organisation on our website.
The below recommendations are part of the paper 'Lumos’ Recommendations to the third Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in External Relations', which includes more information about the institutionalisation of children, its gender-based dimension, and the EU and International legal and policy framework.
These recommendations are based on the Roadmap for an EU Action Plan of Gender equality and women’s empowerment in external relations for 2021-2025, the second Gender Action Plan (GAP II) and the Council Recommendations on the implementation of GAP II.
Following the EU’s and international acknowledgement of the harm caused by institutionalisation and commitment to supporting the shift from institutional to family- and community-based care in both its internal and external action, as well as the EU’s commitment to promote gender equality in external relations, Lumos recommends that the next Action Plan:
1. Highlights the relation between gender-based discrimination and institutionalisation of children, and includes activities which contribute to a gender-responsive social protection system. Lumos welcomes the fact that the current gender Action Plan (GAP II) addresses gender-based discrimination, which is a driver of the institutionalisation of children, and promotes access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights. Moreover, Lumos is encouraged to see that GAP II acknowledges that girls and women facing poverty have even less control over decisions that affect them and over resources at all levels. However, in order to improve policies that sustain families, it is of high importance to specifically highlight the relation between gender-based discrimination and the institutionalisation of children, as well as the current lack of services in many countries to support different types of families, such as single-parent households.
2. Addresses girls’ vulnerable position when they are not protected by a family or family-based environment, specifically by acknowledging the high risks girls face when placed in residential settings, and by introducing actions to reduce those risks. Lumos welcomes that one of the three thematic pillars in GAP II is “ensuring girls’ and women’s physical and psychological integrity”. However, due to the overrepresentation of girls in institutions, as well as the increased risk of violence and abuse girls face in residential settings (this can be a children’s institution as well as a migrant reception centre), Lumos would like to see their situation specifically addressed in the next Action Plan. This could be done by encouraging actions which reduce the risk of abuse in residential settings, such as sex-segregated facilities and training of staff, as well as the development of special care leaver programmes for girls.
3. Includes indicators and activities targeting children in institutions in its monitoring and evaluation framework, and encourages EU actors to deliver sex-disaggregated data on children outside of households when reporting on the different indicators. Lumos encourages the European Commission to continue its monitoring and evaluation efforts as laid down in GAP II in the forthcoming Action Plan. However, too often, children outside of households are not counted in monitoring frameworks. To get an accurate picture of the progress being made on the several objectives regarding gender equality in external relations in the forthcoming Gender Action Plan, it is crucial to include children outside of households in the monitoring framework, especially as girls in institutional settings are likely to face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.
Read full responseResponse to EU post-2020 Roma policy
5 Mar 2020
Please note that the below recommendations are only a part of our paper 'Lumos’ Recommendations to the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies post-2020'. Please see the complete version for more information about institutionalisation of children, institutionalisation of Roma children and the EU and International legal and policy framework.
These recommendations are based on the ‘Roadmap for Roma policy – tackling discrimination and social-economic exclusion beyond 2020’ and the previous ‘EU Framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020’.
Following the EU’s acknowledgement of the harm caused by institutionalisation and its commitment to supporting the shift from institutional to family- and community-based care, as well as the EU’s intention to foster Roma integration and inclusion, Lumos recommends that the next Framework:
1. Addresses Roma children’s right to live with their families or, when this is not possible, in family- or community-based care. Lumos welcomes the fact that the EU Framework for national Roma integration strategies up to 2020 addresses drivers of institutionalisation, such as poverty and reduced access to education, health care and housing. More specifically, Lumos welcomes the fact that the Framework acknowledges that Roma children tend to be overrepresented in special education and segregated schools, which is one of the main underlying reasons of institutionalisation. However, given the high share of Roma children in institutions and the harm this causes in itself, it is important to not only address the drivers of institutionalisation, but also specifically mention institutionalisation of children as one of the challenges the Roma community faces. We therefore recommend that the new Framework raises awareness about institutionalisation of Roma children and reiterates all children’s right to family life.
2. Recommends the creation of a range of services targeted at family-reunification or preventing family separation. The overrepresentation of Roma children in the public care system is one of the consequences of discrimination against the Roma community and the inability to address deprivation, structural disadvantage and prejudice within mainstream services. We therefore suggest that the new Framework recommends that national Roma integration strategies include targeted actions to create a range of services for the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care, focused on the special needs of the Roma communities. These services should include: free legal advice to families under risk of leaving their children in an institutional setting or other forms of care, work with families under risk of child removal for child protection reasons and work with parents who have placed their children in an institution or other form of residential service for achieving child re-integration with the family.
3. Monitors progress on the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care among Roma communities. Lumos welcomes the intention for the new initiative to present a common indicator framework for Roma equality and inclusion to better monitor progress. However, too often, children outside of households are not counted in monitoring frameworks. To have a real idea of the progress being made when it comes to Roma equality and inclusion, it is crucial to include the most vulnerable and hard to reach children in the monitoring framework. When children are counted, they are more likely to be included in government programmes which help to ensure they grow up healthy, safe, and better-prepared to contribute positively to their societies. Therefore, Lumos suggests that the common indicator framework for Roma equality and inclusion includes indicators on Roma children in institutional care and the transition from institutional to family- and community-based care.
Read full responseMeeting with Francisco Barros Castro (Cabinet of Commissioner Elisa Ferreira) and Hope and Homes for Children
4 Mar 2020 · Discussion on how best to ensure that the new European Commission delivers on children’s right to family life
Meeting with Neil Kerr (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli), Nora Bednarski (Cabinet of Commissioner Helena Dalli)
20 Feb 2020 · The rights of children in alternative care
Response to EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024
6 Feb 2020
5. Lumos’ Recommendations to the EU Action Plan on Human Rights 2020-2024
These recommendations are based on the Roadmap for EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2020-2024 and the previous EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy 2015-2019.
Following the EU’s and international acknowledgement of the harm caused by institutionalisation and commitment to supporting the shift from institutional to family- and community-based care, Lumos recommends that the next Action Plan:
1. Addresses all children’s right to live with their families or, when this isn’t possible, in family or community-based care. The EU and international policy and legislation in the past years, including the draft NDICI Regulation and the EP, and UN Resolutions on children rights, along with CRC and CRPD, highlight the importance of family and community-based care for child’s protection and wellbeing. Therefore, we would like to see the right to family care addressed in the Action Plan together with prioritising actions supporting the transition from institutional to family and community-based care. This would also be aligned to the Action Plan policy objective of streamlining a coherent EU approach to human rights and democracy in the world.
2. Acknowledges that the institutionalisation of children is a serious breach of human rights. The Action Plan 2015-2019 puts a particular focus on ‘strengthening, child protection systems to protect children from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect’ to which, in fact, children in institutions are exposed. Therefore, we would like to see an action, in the 2020-24 Plan, about supporting partner countries to move away from institutional forms of care and invest in supporting families and family- and community-based alternatives as well as a recommendation to include such measures in Human Rights Country Strategies.
3. Acknowledges the nexus between trafficking and institutionalisation of children. Contemporary evidence from different country contexts demonstrates how orphanages are central participants in a web of modern slavery and trafficking of children. The demand for children to fill up orphanages around the world is fuelling the systematic recruitment of children into institutions – a pattern that is increasingly being recognised as trafficking. Therefore, we would like to see an action point about supporting partner countries to raise awareness of the link between trafficking and institutionalisation of children and to include measures on the shift to family and community-based care in their strategies to fight trafficking in human beings. Furthermore, as unaccompanied migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee children, are often placed in shelters and other forms of institutional settings, we would like to see an action on the development of a long-term vision for family and community-based care for these children in partner countries.
Read full responseMeeting with Renaud Savignat (Cabinet of Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen)
4 Feb 2020 · Discussion on the desinstitutionalisation of children and their right to community-living
Meeting with Anna Gallo Alvarez (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica), Maria-Myrto Kanellopoulou (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
25 Oct 2018 · Discussion on MFF
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
27 Jun 2018 · Meeting to follow up on the event that was co-organized by EC and Lumos
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
14 Jun 2018 · Meeting to discuss preparations for the event with J.K. Rowling on children's rights
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
18 Apr 2018 · Meeting to discuss preparations for the event with J.K. Rowling on children's rights
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
26 Feb 2018 · Meeting to prepare a joint event in June on children's rights
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
18 Jan 2018 · Meeting to prepare the event with J.K. Rowling
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
22 Nov 2017 · Child protection and family care in EU external action
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
18 Oct 2017 · High-level discussion on the EU’s external action on "The link between trafficking and children in institutions" organized by European Commission and Lumos
Response to European Solidarity Corps
26 Jul 2017
Lumos is an international NGO, founded by author J.K. Rowling, working to end the institutionalisation of children around the world by transforming education, health and social care systems for children and their families and helping children move from institutions to family-based care. An estimated eight million children worldwide live in institutions and so-called orphanages that deny them their human rights and that cannot meet their needs. One million of these children are believed to live in the wider European region.
Lumos welcomes the European Solidarity Corps and its objectives to strengthen the foundations for solidarity across Europe and to “create opportunities for young people across the European Union to make a meaningful contribution to society, show solidarity and develop their skills.” The proposed Regulation laying down the legal framework of the European Solidarity Corps provides an ideal opportunity to make sure that the initiative enables volunteers to engage in meaningful solidarity experiences, while also ensuring that the activities undertaken are beneficial for society. The activities to which the young people will contribute must be carefully selected and appropriate, should be in line with EU values and legislation, and should contribute to the development of sustainable and inclusive societies, based on respect for fundamental human rights.
Lumos therefore make the following recommendations:
1. Institutions represent a clear breach of children’s rights and pose a serious risk to their development, wellbeing and protection. In 2013, the European Union took a major step towards ending the institutionalisation of children with the introduction of an ex-ante conditionality on social inclusion (9: 9.1.) in the Regulation 1303/2013 on the European Structural and Investment Funds. The Investment priorities under this ex-ante conditionality include “…the transition from institutional to community-based services”. In effect, with the adoption of the Regulation it is prohibited for the European Structural and Investment Funds to be used for the maintenance or renovation of existing, and the construction of new, large residential institutional settings.
In order for the EU to be coherent in its policy and action, the same principle should be applied to all the existing and future programmes, tools and initiatives.
Lumos recommends that a list of excluded activities for the European Solidarity Corps be created, and that placements in orphanages and other institutions should be included in it. To ensure that this measure is implemented, mention of this list of excluded activities should be included in the Regulation and the relevant accompanying Staff Working Documents.
This is essential for the initiative to be in line with Article 24 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights: in all actions concerning children, their best interests must come first and they must be protected from harm.
2. Lumos welcomes the provisions made in Staff Working Document 168 that provide for online child safeguarding and child protection training to be provided for volunteers, and stipulate that “participation for individuals in any activities where the individual will have direct contact with children… will be subject, where appropriate, to background checks with a view to ensure child safeguarding.” However, as child protection is such a crucial concern in volunteer placements, Lumos recommends that the above measures should also be mentioned in the Regulation itself so that the importance of this obligation is made clear.
3. Lumos calls for young people leaving institutions and alternative care to be included in the definition of “disadvantaged young people” that will benefit from extra support, to ensure that they have equitable access to the scheme.
Please read the attached document for more details.
Read full responseMeeting with Nils Behrndt (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
21 Mar 2017 · Protection of children in development cooperation
Meeting with Nils Behrndt (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
18 Feb 2016 · Protection of institutionalized children in development cooperation
Meeting with Tomas Nejdl (Cabinet of Commissioner Corina Crețu)
16 Feb 2016 · Task Force for Better Implementation
Meeting with Polykarpos Adamidis (Cabinet of Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos)
9 Jun 2015 · Meeting with LUMOS - Deinstitutionalisaton and the right of children (+ Mr Alonso Iriarte DG HOME, Ms Tuite DG JUST)
Meeting with Dragos Bucurenci (Cabinet of Commissioner Corina Crețu)
8 Apr 2015 · Regional development and the de-institutionalisation agenda
Meeting with Zacharias Giakoumis (Cabinet of Commissioner Christos Stylianides)
27 Mar 2015 · Presentation of LUMOS activities and policy recommendations
Meeting with Rodrigo Ballester (Cabinet of Commissioner Tibor Navracsics)
6 Mar 2015 · Inclusive Education in the Europe 2020 strategy
Meeting with Daniel Braun (Cabinet of Commissioner Věra Jourová)
3 Mar 2015 · Children's rights, Child protection
Meeting with Irena Andrassy (Cabinet of Vice-President Neven Mimica)
19 Feb 2015 · EU development cooperation financing structure and the ending of the institutionalisation of children by transforming education, health and social care systems